Grip Strength
Date: Apr 1st 2018 - Apr 30th 2018
The hands are a crucial component of most upper body exercises, so possessing powerful paws will help your training all around.
The trouble is, grip training often requires equipment that's not available in mainstream gyms. No worries, serious hand training isn't out of reach. Anyone can build a tremendous grip without devoting a whole lot of extra time to it, or relying on any equipment beyond a basic pull-up bar. All you gotta do is hang.
The 60-Second Baseline
The Classic Two-Arm Hang: This is an essential skill that any reasonably strong person should be able to do without much difficulty. It's also a great way to establish a baseline of grip strength. If you're a serious lifter and you're not carrying excess body fat, you should be able to hang comfortably from an overhead bar for a minimum of 60 seconds. Ideally longer.
Remember this baseline. We are going to compare this time on the last day of the challenge.
The Benefits of Hanging Exercises
It is not only your shoulders that will benefit from hanging exercises but a whole range muscles, joints and ligaments will benefit from you being able to complete the 30 Day Bar Hanging Challenge.
Hanging exercises involve what is called straight arm strength and this type of body weight strength can significantly improve your grip strength, your wrist flexors, your forearm strength and of course your shoulder strength.
The wonderful thing about hanging exercises is that if you are a novice and do not have much straight arm strength then you can start off with relatively easy hanging exercises and as you become stronger and progressively work your way up to more advanced hanging exercises which are certainly not for the faint-hearted.
The Challenge
Hang for a total of 7 minutes a day for 30 days. This can be all at once or spread out through the entire day. No need to be a hero on day one and knock it out in one hang, unless you can. You want to see an increase of hang time from the baseline test on day 1 and the same baseline test on day 30.
Last words of advice from Ido Portal:
- No pain. Just a strain.
- If you can use your thumb – do it. That's why you have a thumb.
- Vary your anchors – rings, bar, tree branch, rope, towel, climbing grips, etc – all are good and all – different.
- Do less but more often. We are meant to receive such frequent movement signals.
- Be consistent with the work. No rest days in the first 30 days. Don’t break the habit – form it!
References
T - Nation: The Ultimate Grip Strength Test
Place of Persistence: 30 Day Hanging Challenge
Leaderboard
| Pos. | Nickname | Total Seconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durr | 11475.00 |
| 2 | BC | 9660.00 |
| 3 | Yoyoman | 8760.00 |
| 4 | Janine the Machine | 5880.00 |
| 5 | Nugget | 4914.00 |
| 6 | LilKim | 4095.00 |
| 7 | Mayhem | 645.00 |
| 8 | Batman81 | 360.00 |
| 9 | Kaydididit | 360.00 |
| 10 | Menehune5 | 180.00 |
| 11 | Tanya Graham | 125.00 |
| 12 | Heather Gannon | 18.00 |
| 13 | Arnie605 | 0.00 |
| 14 | DK | 0.00 |
| 15 | Jo Barta | 0.00 |
| 16 | Kim Collings | 0.00 |
| 17 | Matt.R. (theguywiththehat) | 0.00 |
| 18 | Rachel Lotz | 0.00 |
| 19 | Randy | 0.00 |
| 20 | Shortstack | 0.00 |
| 21 | Sirena Denbow | 0.00 |
| 22 | Tessa Turnbull | 0.00 |
| 23 | TingTing | 0.00 |
| 24 | Wes Shearer | 0.00 |
